Moira knits, spins, weaves, dyes yarn and drinks tea as she travels between the UK, Japan and the USA.

19 Dec 2016

What's on the other side?

Yesterday, I blogged about three patterns, all quick to knit and all using the same chunky yarn, DMC Natura XL. However, there was something else that was the same about all of them: all the stitches were drawn from our new book, Reversible Knitting Stitches. So I thought I would talk about these three stitch patterns and why we chose them for these projects.

The first pattern I showed yesterday was the Malvern Spa Pillow and Mitt. These are worked in a variation of Hatfield Check, one of my favourite reversible knit stitches. The stitch is an easy one to work and gives a wonderfully textural result. It has a good amount of stretch, which is important for something like a tightly-fitting spa pillow cover. It also has a most interesting surface texture which produces a very good massaging effect in the spa mitt, so is a good combination for the set.

The second pattern featured in the blogpost was the Malvern Bath Mat, a soft and luxurious bath mat which just soaks up the water when you step onto it after a relaxing bath or shower. The softness comes partly from the yarn, of course, but is also due to the qualities of the stitch, Quaker Ridging. This alternates thick and thin ridged stripes giving a lovely depth to the fabric, so it is soft and squidgy to step onto.

It can look great when worked in a striped pattern, as in the bath mat here, but I like it also in a single colour which seems to emphasise the dynamic nature of the pattern.

The last of the three featured patterns was Anna's Shelbourne Spa Towels. These are worked in an intriguing reversible stitch called Diamond Brocade, which has an interesting interplay of different-sized diamonds. This gives the design a very modern feel.

I like the fact that the two sides look so different. The right side has strongly accented diamond shapes and the wrong side has a lovely honey-comb appearance. Apart from just appearances, though, this deep texture makes the towels absorbent and soft to use.

If you would like to read more about the Reversible Knitting Stitches Book, then please click here. The book features 200 different reversible stitch patterns and also includes over 50 project photos to illustrate how the stitches can be used for your next project.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for posting a comment to my blog. I have Comment Moderation set up on this blog to reduce spam messages, so please do not be concerned if there is a brief interlude between posting your comment and seeing it live on the blog. Many thanks again.